Budget reductions lead to the cancellation of over a dozen U.S. health monitoring initiatives

Budget reductions lead to the cancellation of over a dozen U.S. health monitoring initiatives

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SNEAKY SILENCE, U.S.A. - Flaunting the slogan "America, Yeah!", Health Secretary Robert Kennedy assures our nation's health revitalization. However, the government's tightened purse strings could potentially veil this progress, making it tricky to discern positive health changes.

In the whirlwind of layoffs and proposed budget cuts during the Trump administration's initial 100 days, over a dozen data collection programs were seemingly phased out. The Associated Press scrutinized draft and final budget proposals and spoke with more than a dozen current and former federal employees to grasp the scale of eliminated programs monitoring Americans' health.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shed experts tracking abortion, pregnancies, job-related injuries, lead poisoning, sexual violence, and youth smoking, the AP found. As Patrick Breysse, who used to oversee CDC environmental health programs, pointed out, "If you don't have staff, the program is gone."

Federal officials have been tight-lipped about the specific surveillance programs that are vanishing. Instead, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman directed the AP to the Trump administration's budget proposal, which lacked specifics but proposed slashing the CDC's core budget by over half and focusing CDC surveillance solely on emerging and infectious diseases.

Kennedy has stated some of the CDC's duties will migrate to the Administration for a Healthy America, a yet-to-be-created agency. Moreover, he has claimed that the cuts are designed to do away with departmental waste, which has seen its budget grow in recent years. However, he wrote last month in The New York Post, "Unfortunately, this extra spending and staff has not improved our nation's health as a country."

Nonetheless, some health specialists argue the trimmed programs are not redundant, and their elimination could leave Americans in the dark.

Graham Mooney, a public health historian at Johns Hopkins University, questioned, "If the U.S. is intent on making itself healthier again, how will it know when it nixes the programs that help us understand these diseases?"

The core of the nation's health surveillance resides with the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, which collates birth and death certificates to generate information on birth rates, death trends, and life expectancy. It also conducts long-standing health surveys, providing vital data on obesity, asthma, and other health issues.

Though the center remains relatively untouched by layoffs and budget plans, many other efforts were targeted by the cuts, the AP discovered. Some examples include:

Pregnancies and abortions

The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, tracking women nationwide, gleans information on health behaviors and outcomes before, during, and after childbirth. The system's data has been crucial in probing the nation's maternal mortality problem. Recent layoffs erased the staffs collecting data on in vitro fertilizations and abortions.

Lead poisoning

The CDC eliminated its program on lead poisoning in children, which assisted local health departments with funding and expertise in investigating lead poisoning clusters and pinpointing places with the highest risk.

Environmental investigations

The Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, which had information on potential cancer clusters and weather-related illnesses, also met its demise.

Transgender data

The CDC is no longer recording transgender status in health-tracking systems, including ones focused on violent deaths and risky behaviors by youth. Experts realize transgender individuals face higher violence risks, but this makes it harder to quantify the risk's extent.

Violence

The funding and staff for data collection yielding insights into homicides, suicides, and accidental deaths involving weapons seem intact. However, CDC violence-prevention programs that acted on this information were halted.

Work injuries

The cuts significantly diminished the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which tracks job-related illnesses and deaths and offers prevention recommendations.

Smoking and drugs

The Health and Human Services cuts dissolved the 17-member team responsible for the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the main method to gauge drug use. Additionally, the CDC staff working on the National Youth Tobacco Survey were discontinued.

Data modernization and predictions

The administration has nixed work to modernize data collection, such as an upgrade to a 22-year-old system that supports local public health departments tracking diseases and allows the CDC to compile a national picture. Another casualty was the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, which attempted to predict disease trends.

Critics argue these cuts undermine the CDC's capacity for comprehensive health surveillance and response, potentially jeopardizing public health outcomes. The overall effect could lead to gaps in understanding health risks and developing effective interventions, potentially leading to increased deaths and illnesses across the nation.

1. The government's budget cuts could potentially mask the progress of health revitalization in the United States, making it difficult to recognize positive changes in health.
2. During the initial 100 days of the Trump administration, over a dozen data collection programs were seemingly phased out, according to the Associated Press.
3. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lost experts tracking abortion, pregnancies, job-related injuries, lead poisoning, sexual violence, and youth smoking.
4. Patrick Breysse, who used to oversee CDC environmental health programs, noted that without staff, a program would be gone.
5. Federal officials have been tight-lipped about the specific programs that are being phased out.
6. The Trump administration proposed slashing the CDC's core budget by over half and focusing CDC surveillance solely on emerging and infectious diseases.
7. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy claimed that the cuts are designed to eliminate departmental waste.
8. Kennedy stated that some of the CDC's duties would migrate to the Administration for a Healthy America, a yet-to-be-created agency.
9. Some health specialists argue the trimmed programs are not redundant, and their elimination could leave Americans in the dark.
10. Graham Mooney, a public health historian at Johns Hopkins University, questioned how the U.S. would know when it eliminates programs that help understand diseases.
11. The core of the nation's health surveillance resides with the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.
12. The center remains relatively untouched by layoffs and budget plans, but many other efforts were targeted by the cuts.
13. The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, tracking women nationwide, was erased due to recent layoffs, which has been crucial in probing the nation's maternal mortality problem.
14. The CDC eliminated its program on lead poisoning in children, which assisted local health departments with funding and expertise in investigating lead poisoning clusters.
15. The Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, which had information on potential cancer clusters and weather-related illnesses, also met its demise.
16. The CDC is no longer recording transgender status in health-tracking systems, including ones focused on violent deaths and risky behaviors by youth.
17. Experts realize transgender individuals face higher violence risks, but this makes it harder to quantify the risk's extent.
18. The funding and staff for data collection yielding insights into homicides, suicides, and accidental deaths involving weapons seem intact, but CDC violence-prevention programs that acted on this information were halted.
19. The cuts significantly diminished the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which tracks job-related illnesses and deaths and offers prevention recommendations.
20. The Health and Human Services cuts dissolved the 17-member team responsible for the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the main method to gauge drug use.
21. Additionally, the CDC staff working on the National Youth Tobacco Survey were discontinued.
22. The administration has nixed work to modernize data collection, such as an upgrade to a 22-year-old system that supports local public health departments tracking diseases.
23. Another casualty was the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, which attempted to predict disease trends.
24. Critics argue these cuts undermine the CDC's capacity for comprehensive health surveillance and response.
25. Potentially, these cuts could jeopardize public health outcomes, leading to gaps in understanding health risks and developing effective interventions.
26. This could potentially lead to increased deaths and illnesses across the nation.
27. Public health surveillance is crucial in understanding health risks, as it provides vital data on obesity, asthma, and other health issues.
28. In Toronto, Canada, the city's medical officer of health called for stricter gun laws amid a rise in homicides and shootings.
29. Lawmakers in Toronto are looking into regulations to make it more difficult to purchase handguns and to build a registry for those who already own them.
30. The news of Toronto's gun violence problem made headlines in the media, with some political figures expressing their condolences and calling for action.
31. Despite the increasing use of renewable energy sources, the oil and gas industry remains a significant player in the global energy market.
32. Countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia dominate the export market for crude oil, with the latter being the world's largest exporter.
33. The manufacturing industry in the United States has seen a resurgence in recent years, thanks in part to automation and venture capital investment in small businesses.

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